Exacavidae boreas
Species Name: Exacavidae boreas (Northern Burrower) Lineage: Cornipedae Avrage Size: 30 cm in length Diet: Herbivore Ancestor Ambulospeculida Physiology The small Northern Burrower are a linneage of Cornipedae who turned to burrowing into the loose soil of northern Terra Septentrionis. Its small first pair of limbs have developed greater strength and is its main mode of burrowing. the third pair of legs have evolved shovel-like features which it uses to scute and carry the soil it has been digging up. Hooves The small creature still have reminant hooves from when it was more adapted to running on plains, they have however proven quite useful in scraping and kicking dirt. In addition to the hooves they have a small remenant claw on their third and fourth pair of limbs. Horns The Burrowers front horns have reduced in size greatly and are facing backwards to keep them from getting caught in roots and such undeerground. Their back horns have however elongated and narrowed, they use these horns and their enlarged backmost plating to ward of predators, sealing the tunnel with their own bodies. Behaviour and Ecology The very social Burrowers live in colonies of up to twenty individuals, foraging on the suface and digging for roots and other edibles underground. They always have a guard on the surface by the colony to spot potential carnivores or dangers to the colony. They also employ a vast number of sounds using two modefied probisci on their neck area. These allow them to produce suprisingly low humming noises that can be heard far. Feeding The small herbivores feed mostly on berries and easily digestible plant matters, their strong claws and powerful jump have even made them quite good jumpers able to reach high nutrients. The bounty is collected by the forager in his Scovel-claws and brought back to the colony to be placed in special storagen rooms which are always keept as dry as possible. Great ammounts of food are collected by the colonies each summer to be stored and eaten in the winter. If food runs short during the winter months the Burrowers can often supplement their diet with roots and underground polyspeculate matter. Sociology The Northern Burrower is a highly social creature forming colonies of around 20 individuals. Of these are often a quater males and the rest female, however in day-to-day activity littke distinction are made between them. A Burrower can furfill one of several roles in the colony such as forager, lookout, digger or raising the young. Roles often swich from one day to another and foragers often stay in the colony after a day of field work. Mating Mating occurs in early winter and the kids are born in early spring, around mid-summer the kidas are fully mature and assists the colony in gathering supplies. A female lay two eggs every year and the kids are raised communally. In autum the newly born males leave the colony to find another to settle in, during these travels alot of male burrower are eaten by predators. When a colony gets too big, usually aroun 30 individuals, infighting occurs and about half of the Burrowers are banished to form their own new colony. These banished Burrowers usually dont succed. Category:Dispeculata Category:Ambulospeculida Category:Terra Septentrionis